Michigan Representative Hillary Scholten recently disclosed that her husband experienced a mental health crisis just days before unexpectedly leaving her and their two teenage sons. This revelation came to light through court documents she had attempted to keep confidential from the public eye.
In February, Scholten, a Democrat from Michigan, sought to have her divorce proceedings sealed. Her legal team argued that public access to these details could potentially damage her chances for reelection and inflict “irreparable reputational harm.”
The court filings reveal that Scholten’s husband of two decades, Jesse Holcomb, had been grappling with “depressive” and “manic episodes” for several months. Scholten claims that Holcomb made the abrupt decision to leave without warning.
According to these documents, just six days before Holcomb’s departure, Scholten discovered him late at night, inconsolably crying and refusing to eat, while he spoke incoherently about his childhood. These details were brought to public attention by journalist and podcaster James David Dickson.
As Scholten pursues a third term for Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District in the upcoming November elections, she further explained her attempts to support Holcomb. She mentioned her inability to stabilize him and considered admitting him to Pine Rest, a mental health facility, for professional help.
A former social worker and immigration attorney during the Obama administration, Scholten also shared how she communicated the situation to their sons, Wesley, 13, and James, 16, explaining that their father was not well.
When Holcomb emerged from the bedroom at one point, the sons could tell there was “something off about their father,” the filing claims.
“Eventually, [Holcomb] returned to bed, again crying inconsolably,” her papers claimed.
The next day Scholten brought up inpatient mental health treatment to Holcomb — a journalism professor at Calvin University in Grand Rapids.
“This suggestion only increased his irritability,” her lawyer wrote. “She suggested they take a walk or go cross country skiing. It was virtually impossible to stabilize him.”
At Scholten’s urging, Holcomb finally called a doctor and eventually started “coming out of his agitated state,” the papers allege.
Then Holcomb “suddenly and irrationally” told his politician wife that he was going to leave on Jan. 6, immediately exiting their home as his sons “cried” and before turning off the location services on his phone so she and the boys wouldn’t know where he was staying, Scholten’s papers claimed.
In the aftermath of the split, Holcomb showed “erratic and threatening behavior” toward the family, including “ambushing them” at the airport when Scholten decided to have the boys accompany her to DC for work, the court papers claimed.
Meanwhile, Holcomb claimed in his divorce papers from January that Scholten was trying to keep him out of their Grand Rapids home by changing the locks and security system passwords and she was also trying to keep him from their sons.
Scholten “has unilaterally cut off contact between [Holcomb] and the minor children and restricted and denied him liberal access to the materiel home,” his papers claimed.
But Scholten countered that the boys personally texted him they weren’t ready to see him because of the shock of him leaving and his alarming actions after.
“It was this behavior-and additional erratic, aggressive, and intimidating behavior in the ensuing days … and abrupt and thoughtless choice that puts [Holcomb] in the position he is in today with the children,” her filing alleged.
“The children are not ready to see their father without therapeutic intervention,” the documents claimed.
Holcomb filed for divorce on Jan. 26, without telling Scholten, offering little explanation for why he was doing so, other than to say the marriage was unfixable, court papers say.
“There has been a breakdown of the marriage relationship to the extent that the objects of matrimony have been destroyed, and there remains no reasonable likelihood that the marriage can be preserved,” his divorce papers alleged.
Holcomb — who makes $105,000 at his professor gig — asked for spousal support and for Scholten — who makes $174,000 in Congress — to be responsible for the costs of the divorce.
She is fighting both requests.
A judge in late February did issue a ruling ordering them to share custody and that Holcomb would live in the home and take care of the sons when Scholten was in DC for work.
The judge, Matthew Delange, also ordered the kids to undergo therapy, the court papers show.
The divorce case is ongoing.
“I have grown an extra chamber in my heart for moms and dads out there who have had to go through this,” Scholten said about the divorce earlier this month. “It goes without saying that this is a deeply personal matter.”
Both of their lawyers didn’t immediately return requests for comment Monday.
